Storyboarding and Pacing

As I read this week's assignments, I realized there was a common theme.  In the first weeks of this course we were exploring storytelling concepts and gathering raw materials for our stories.  This week we really started building our own stories, both for re-working a previous presentation, and for creating a new story in the form of a Pecha Kucha.  In both of these, I found myself with ideas, but no good way of combining them into a single unified whole that makes a point.  This is where storyboarding comes in.

The Digi Tales book has a great storyboarding template that I am using for both my Pecha Kucha and my re-formed presentation.  In both cases the storyboard is making me think of the key elements or points that I want to cover, then making me arrange them in a logical fashion.  This is not a step that I have always done, and I think many of my past presentations have suffered because of it.  It is too easy to end up with a series of disjointed slides that do not build to a point.  This lack of cohesion is one of the key elements of the "Death by PowerPoint" concept.  Individual slides that go on and on without really reinforcing a central theme.  We go so wrapped up in the bullet points on a particular slide that we do not see the whole.  This can even be true of a picture based presentation.  If the pictures do not flow, then the point is still lost.


Storyboarding forces you to look at the whole, to see the forest AND the trees.  Also important, storyboarding will help with the pacing of my presentations.  By creating the proper timing for the images, you can be sure that they build to a point at the proper moment, not too soon or too late.  Following the story arc concept that I learned in high school, the presentation should build towards it key theme for 2/3 or 3/4 of the presentation.  Then it should reach the climax and allow time for resolution, or in the case of a presentation, for the audience to digest and absorb you key points.  This is just a guideline of course, but the concept applies.  There are so many possibilities with images, quotes, video, graphs and other elements that you could add to a presentation, that a storyboard is almost a necessity to make sure that the audience will remember the "forest" of your presentation.  I have a great idea for a Pecha Kucha, but I will definitely need to storyboard it to see how I can deliver the point.

Improving My Digital Stories, or Finding the Photographer's Eye

AS we have continued with the assignment of posting a picture a day, I have found myself having a problem with finding material for the shots.  It seems strange.  Even though I see people and things everyday, I find myself having a hard time picking out those things that would make a good picture.  I have been struggling to find the photographer's eye, that ability to pick out an ordinary scene and see something extraordinary in it.  However I have also realized that the more I make myself do this, the better I am getting.  I have started to see more detail in everyday situations.  I see patterns, color, and shapes that might make an interesting picture.  I like to think of this as finding my photographer's eye, the ability to see a picture in an ordinary situation.

I think a similar process will happen in my presentations.  I need to start applying some of the principles from the Presentation Zen book, which will in turn make me a better story teller.  Just as there are great pictures hidden in the scenes that we encounter every day, there are also stories hidden in the standard presentations that I have to give on a regular basis.  By simplifying my presentations, and using pictures to tell the story, I can improve the impact that the slide show will have on the audience.  And just as with the pictures, the more I practice at it, the better will get.  I will need to keep making new presentations that use the principles from the Presentation Zen book, and eventually I will become a better storyteller and presenter.

I have made regular presentations for classes that I have taught at work, but I also hope to employ many of the same techniques when giving other presentations at work.  Whether it is a project status meeting, or a team update, I can use picture based presentations to tell the story that I need to convey to the group.

CEdO530 - Digital Storytelling

Over a year ago, when I was first deciding whether to enroll in this Master's program, I reviewed the list of courses to see what sorts of topics were covered.  The title of this course intrigued me even then.  For most of human history teachers were only story tellers, and knowledge was past down through an oral tradition of stories and lessons that were told and re-told to each new generation.  Only since the invention of the printing press, a mere 500 years ago, has the notion of the printed story taken the place of a spoken one.

I think at their heart all teachers have some of that original desire to be a story teller, to be a performer.  They want to excite their students and give them the joy of learning.  How better to do this than to engage them in a compelling narrative that they can become a part of?

In this class I hope to improve my story telling, which will in turn allow me to draw more students in to the classes that I teach.  Rather than just reciting facts, I want to make the knowledge a living and breathing narrative that the students are a part of.  This will make the classes personal to them, and further build their love of learning.